Wall Street opens sharply lower, erases majority of Wednesday's gains

• S&P 500 Financials Index erases more than 3% on plummeting yields.
• Falling crude oil prices weigh on energy shares on Wednesday.
• CBOE Volatility Index is up more than 15% in early trade.

Wall Street's main indexes started the day deep in the negative territory as flight-to-safety, once again, dominates the financial markets. The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, is up 16% in the early trade to reflect the dismal market mood.

As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.75% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were erasing 2.5% and 2.3%, respectively.

Plummeting T-bond yields weigh on financials

Pressured by a more-than-11% drop seen in the 10-year US Treasury bond yield, the S&P 500 Financials Index is down 3.75% as the worst-performing major sector. On the other hand, with the OPEC+ failing to reach an agreement on additional oil output cuts, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate is erasing more than 1%, causing the S&P 500 Energy Index to fall 3.4%.